Thursday, December 13, 2012

German media lament 'never-ending story' of Greek bailouts -
(www.reuters.com) German media accused the
government on Wednesday of deceiving taxpayers over the true costs of saving Greece and said the euro zone would eventually have to
write off much of its Greek debt. The Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament, is expected to vote
later this week on the package of measures agreed by euro zone finance ministers late on Monday
that aim to cut Greek debt to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. The
Bundestag's approval is not in doubt but the chorus of anger and frustration
reverberating among German newspapers and lawmakers highlights the growing
political risks for Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of next September's federal
elections. "The never-ending story," quipped Germany's best-selling
Bild of the latest Greek rescue, depicting Merkel, Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble and other top officials as characters from the cult fantasy film of
the same name. In a commentary, Bild's Hugo Mueller-Vogg reached for a medical
metaphor to restate the paper's long-standing opposition to euro zone bailouts
it says German taxpayers cannot afford. "The team of European doctors
around the patient's bed justify the continually rising costs of the treatment
with the hope that at some point the expensive medicines will prove
effective," wrote Mueller-Vogg.

Schaeuble Signals Greece May Need More Help as Bild Slams Deal
- (www.bloomberg.com) German Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble signaled that Greece may need additional help as the
country’s most-read newspaper slammed a rescue accord as a “never-ending story”
financed by German taxpayers. Euro-area governments may provide additional
funding through the European Union structural fund and further interest-
payment reduction as long as Greece meets all its obligations under the
agreement, Schaeuble wrote in a letter to German lawmakers obtained by Bloomberg
News. Legislators in the lower house, or Bundestag, will vote on the
measure on Nov. 30. They may confront increased public resistance as Bild-
Zeitung, a tabloid that’s called in the past for Greece’s exit from the
currency union, pilloried yesterday’s agreement in Brussels to ease terms on
emergency aid for Greece.

China Mafia-Style Hack Attack Drives California Firm to Brink
- (www.bloomberg.com) During his civil lawsuit
against the People’s Republic of China,
Brian Milburn says he never once saw one of the country’s lawyers. He read no
court documents from China’s attorneys because they filed none. The voluminous
case record at the U.S. District courthouse in Santa Ana contains a single
communication from China: a curt letter to the U.S. State Department, urging
that the suit be dismissed. That doesn’t mean Milburn’s adversary had no
contact with him. For three years, a group of hackers from China waged a
relentless campaign of cyber harassment against Solid Oak Software Inc.,
Milburn’s family-owned, eight-person firm in Santa
Barbara, California. The attack began less than two
weeks after Milburn publicly accused China of appropriating his company’s
parental filtering software, CYBERsitter, for a national Internet
censoring project. And it ended shortly after he settled a $2.2 billion lawsuit
against the Chinese government and a string of computer companies last April.

Forget
Spain, Now Italy Is Seen Needing Bailout in 2013 - (www.cnbc.com) Even as markets have been focused on a
potential bailout for Spain, analysts say Italy, which is heading for a protracted
recession, may also need aid in 2013. Although Mario
Monti’s technocrat government forecasts the Italian economy will decline only
marginally in 2013, analysts at Citi predict a steeper contraction of 1.4
percent, after a 2.3 percent fall this year. Meanwhile, the Organization for
Economic Co-Operation and Development lowered its 2013 estimate for Italy on
Tuesday to a one percent contraction. On top of the economic weakness is
growing political uncertainty. Monti’s term ends next year and former Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has lashed out at the government’s austerity
measures, has hinted he may run for election again.

Icelandic
Mortgage Bank HFF Needs Government Bailout - (www.bloomberg.com) Four years after letting its commercial banks
default on $85 billion, Iceland is preparing to bail out the nation’s biggest
mortgage lender and dodge a junk rating from Moody’s Investors Service. The
bill for the capital injection is unlikely to exceed 13 billion kronur ($103
million), the government said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday,
confirming comments by Sigridur Ingibjorg Ingadottir, who heads the
parliament’s welfare committee. Iceland’s Housing Finance Fund also “needs to
renegotiate the terms of its debt,” Ingadottir said in an interview yesterday.